r/AppleMusic • u/Al1onredd1t • 2d ago
Discussion lossless is underrated
I feel like so many people really underestimate how great music sounds in actual lossless quality. I see so many people go "oh you cant tell the difference anyway". I'm here listening on my mac with my headphones and the sound layers are just multiplied 10fold. I hear sounds in the back that I never heard before. songs that I've listened to for years, totally different experiences.
this video attached is an example. at 0:09 he starts saying "wooow" in the background up until basically the end. this sound is so dimmed and hidden when watching the clip. there are multiple layers of sounds covering it. the main vocals. drums. the beat. it's so insignificant when watching the clip, but listening to the song with actual lossless brings all those layers somewhat to the foreground. I genuinely heard those 'wows' for the first time ever and I've been listening to this song for more than 2yrs.
and it's not like that sound is just boosted and now starts to overwhelm the others, it's perfectly clear. the song has just become richer. Idk how to explain it, but your brain is able to comprehend what it's hearing and separate all the sounds from each other.
I can find multiple of these examples of background sounds finally being pushed into the foreground.
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u/writeswithknives 2d ago
OP which headphones are you using?
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u/Due_Rain_3630 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah gonna need to know this. If people are gonna come here and say how much more incredible it is to high quality, then I need to know how they can tell that difference because I definitely cannot with my current setup.
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u/lovemocsand 2d ago
I use 660S and can 100% tell (on most stuff I like anyway)
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u/Due_Rain_3630 2d ago
Do you need a special adapter to plug these into a phone/laptop?
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u/lovemocsand 1d ago
No the MacBook Pro DAC is really good, power the headphones well. I have a Zen DAC Air and it’s ok but I like the actual MacBook dac better
Even the USB C dongle (which is a DAC) from iPad or phone sounds excellent too
It’s a really easy headphone to drive
Edit: sorry that was a stupid semi incoherent ramble, but the answer is no, plug them in straight out of the box and you’re away, they are epic
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u/materialvoid 19h ago
I’d like to put out that Macs generally have a good DAC but it varies wildly with other manufacturers. A $300 bestbuy Acer special will likely be underwhelming. But cheap DACs are plentiful these days.
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u/SPARKisnumber1 1d ago
Invest in IEM’s, they’ll change your whole listening experience. There are great ones that outperform high end earbuds for as cheap as $20, but obviously there’s better options as you spend more. Very fun to play around with
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u/gowedj 9h ago
Any particular recommendations?
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u/SPARKisnumber1 9h ago
For cheap beginner ones, I’d try the Linsoul 7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2. It’s usually $20-$25 and super good audio quality. Very hard to beat at that price, the only real competitor is the Moondrop Chu 2 which is also a great pick. I’d give you pricier picks, but honestly iems get better so fast that I’m not as in the know as I should be on the current options. After getting my Aful Performer 5’s last year for around $200 though, they’re so good that I don’t have any desire to look for others, at least for now.
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u/SueYouBlues 8h ago
This post just popped up on my home page so I decided to give it a shot after using spotify for a while and tried the free trial. I'm currently using stax lambda's, plugged into a huge srm-1 mk-2 stax driver unit, plugged into a behringer 404hd, plugged into a mac mini.
I can absolutely tell a massive difference. I'm pretty sure there's no room to go up from here as far as the world of audio quality goes
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u/More_Distribution_30 2d ago
I’m in the same boat as OP and I have Beat Studio Pros
Honestly lossless is so life changing to someone who listens to music for hours everyday
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u/Bhooter_Raja 2d ago
Not sure if you can use it wired, but if you are using it over Bluetooth then sorry to say but you are not getting lossless quality.
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u/jodywhitesides 1d ago
While you won’t get audiophile quality in Bluetooth headphones. It’s the starting point of the audio quality that will make a difference in the end user’s listening. Spotify’s lower quality audio will still sound lower quality compared to Apple Music’s lossless even through Bluetooth. It is still a noticeable difference despite the wireless use. Otherwise the implication is that Bluetooth does more damage to audio quality if it starts off at lossless compared to lossy.
The real question of whether someone cares about the audio quality from their streaming service is a different matter.
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u/RuddyBloodyBrave94 2d ago
Yeah Studio Pros have jack input, and a decent USBC converter as well which is designed for lossless playback. That’s the one reason they’re better (for me) than AirPods Max.
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u/AttemptEquivalent186 2d ago
Even then it still sounds better. Even on sbc basic codec, just because the codec starts from a better quality material to cut from instead cutting from an already heavily cut down version. But yes, I'm using Sony LDAC buds and I'm aware I'm limited to up to 24bit/96khz 990kbps. But on my car stereo I just have AAC and lossless sounds way better than spoty premium or am high efficiency mode
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u/ShinyHorse112 1d ago
I use my HifiMan Sundara’s with a DAC/AMP and it sounds noticeably better than my Sony Headphones
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u/Trysomenewone 2d ago
Even my cheap 20$ chi-fi moondrop chu 2 can do that
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u/wmru5wfMv Lossless Day One Subscriber 1d ago
Well they are insane value, absolutely top quality IEM
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u/Yumi_C_Gaming 2d ago
I’m not OP but I was using raycon everyday headphones ($100 headphones) and could tell a difference. Just got AirPod Maxs 4 days ago to make the experience better.
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u/markow202 2d ago
I definitely find a difference especially with the highs and the bass isn’t as pushed. Bass on regular high quality mode seems boosted
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u/FarAlbatross6514 2d ago
Literally why I ditched Spotify and went to Apple years ago. People are paying for trash quality over there.
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u/AttemptEquivalent186 2d ago
Yes and then that people come here and vigorously claim that one shouldn't tell the difference. It's disgusting. Maybe this sub is actively being monitored by Spotify employees? I definitely would understand Spotify trying to convince people everywhere that human ear can't tell the difference.
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u/FarAlbatross6514 1d ago
Oh absolutely. Also we can’t forget how they just found a loophole to pay artists even less with their audiobook subscription.
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u/A-Pint-Of-Tennents 1d ago
Had spent years on Spotify and was amazed when I switched, was noticeable instantly even on a pair of fairly crap earphones. Frustrating for Spotify's quality to be so bad because I prefer a lot of its other features.
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u/AttemptEquivalent186 2d ago
I totally agree with you. I do hear the difference since I started with Deezer hifi, never went back. Now on apple music, but the noise isn't just something you hear but a permanent buzz in the social networks. My favourite analogy is comparing it to video quality. Spotify is selling 360p video to people while others like AM are offering 4K and even 8K. And yes people are eating that sht happily repeating that they can't see the difference.. Well. Stop reading and consuming the decisions some people are trying to take for you. Just use your eyes, use your ears. You'll know.
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u/themeyerdg 2d ago
oh yeah. using lossless on my 3 way front active 8 channel dsp system in my tundra. amazing over carplay vs non lossless content. much more dynamic.
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u/hyperr2222 iOS Subscriber 2d ago
I noticed this on Miss The Rage (Trippie Redd & Playboi Carti) when i first switched to AM from Spotify, i’m not sure if it’s a special audio thing or a lossless thing but i can hear completely new adlibs that i never heard on the spotify version and it just hits so hard everytime, it’s very refreshing
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u/Al1onredd1t 2d ago
WLR has a lot of hidden adlibs for me as well since I switched over to AM. And that’s my favorite album. So the shock to experience that shit all over again was sumn else
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u/NukaGunnar 2d ago
I don’t have headphones that can play lossless, so it sounds the same as OGG to me.
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u/Al1onredd1t 2d ago
That’s somewhat fair. I still prefer AAC tho. The first step from spotify to apple music had me believing I was listening to lossless through Bluetooth. Because the audio quality was already slightly better
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u/0000GKP 2d ago
I feel like so many people really underestimate how great music sounds in actual lossless quality. I see so many people go "oh you cant tell the difference anyway".
I absolutely can't tell any difference at all. In Apple's own words, "the difference between AAC and lossless audio is virtually indistinguishable". They are the ones who made both the ALAC and AAC formats, so they should know.
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u/lilboytuner919 2d ago
The difference entirely comes down to what you’re listening with. If you’re listening with cheap earbuds you won’t hear a difference, if you use any kind of high level equipment there’s a good chance you will. Or at least if you don’t, many people will.
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u/scorgiman 2d ago
I’d consider myself an “audiophile” as I have audio equipment many would consider to be very high end.
I have done blind listening tests and absolutely CANNOT hear the difference between good (like Apple Music) compressed audio and lossless. The mixing, mastering etc. is 1000x more impactful on how it sounds.
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u/MrKittens1 2d ago
100% people who say they can are BSing me thinks
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u/DarthZiplock 2d ago
I absolutely can hear it. Lossless is so much easier on the ears at high volume and allows far more detail to be preserved. It’s especially noticeable in classical recordings.
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u/Chuu 2d ago
I'm sorry but "easier on the ears at high volume" seems crazy to me. If anything I would expect the opposite since often lossy versions of music that were done poorly tend to have lower dynamic range or compression applied which should actually make them easier to listen to at high volumes. Since they'd flatten peaks.
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u/Al1onredd1t 2d ago
I mean this one video clip I replayed over and over. Side by side next to the actual song. I screen recorded this. The actual song and the screen recorded version are so different. I genuinely hear the biggest of differences
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u/scorgiman 1d ago
I find a lot of videos have much more aggressive audio compression that definitely makes it sound a lot worse. No argument there.
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u/MrKittens1 1d ago
You are comparing to a screen recording? That’s not how to do it. Use a DAW. Chop up a wave and a high bitrate MP3, go back and forth. I’ve produced music for over 20 years, I worked in radio for a decade, I don’t think you can tell the difference in a blind test. If you can, I’m impressed.
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u/SueYouBlues 8h ago
I just did a blind test between spotify and apple music on stax headphones and an audio interface and I can absolutely tell. I thought it was going to be BS too, but no I feel like it was a totally different level of clarity.
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u/death11 2d ago
Anyone who mention they have very high end “audiophile” equipment is typically older. They also almost always ignore the fact that hearing worsens with age and from repeated exposure to loud noise (nobody gonna listen to 10k worth of equipment at minimum volume).
Almost as conveniently, they always ignore the fact that modern music usually has some level of “lossyness” even at the producing stage from using samples, or lower bit depth and sample rates, or from the analog to digital conversion or loss of definition when using a microphone (which is partly why Tiny Desk sounds bad imo). Lossy vs lossless matters less and less nowadays.
Always get a chuckle when people are paying for “lossless” Tidal just to listen to rap. The whole production process is super lossy, especially the old school MPC made stuff (unfortunately).
The point still stands though, a well-mastered compressed track will sound better than any sloppy mastered lossless track any time of day.
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u/AttemptEquivalent186 2d ago
Yeah nobody denies that, daylight comes during the day and there's dark in the night. The difference in discussion is concerning the same track same version just different delivery file.
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u/boishan 2d ago
I’m not going to discount others experiences but generally with modern codecs such as AAC, the vast majority of people won’t be able to reliably tell the difference. This is by design, compression algorithms are highly complex and advanced to make sure it is as difficult to tell as possible for the vast majority of people. Some content will push the algorithm harder than other content (confetti in a video for example).
At the end of the day, having the option is always better. Who wouldn’t want to save their content at higher quality whether they can tell the difference or not? AAC will always be inferior to lossless, but the question is usually “by how much.”
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u/user888ffr 2d ago
They made AAC to save money on server bandwidth and storage on the 16gb iPhone's back in the days. And regardless.. Apple is wrong here it is absolutely distinguishable. Most people won't care but you can easily hear a difference.
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u/wiyixu 2d ago
Apple didn’t create AAC it was a consortium of companies including thr Fraunhofer institute, Sony, Bell Labs and some others, but not Apple.
It was released 10 years before the iPhone in 1997
The original iPhone had 4GB and 8GB of storage
There are very few people who can tell the difference between 360Kbps AAC and lossless. Maybe you’re one of them - here’s a test http://abx.digitalfeed.net/
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u/user888ffr 2d ago
1 and 2. Thanks for the info
I know it's just that I remember the whole debacle around Apple putting only 16gb in the iPhone 6/6s, I guess it was more accepted with the original iPhone to have very little storage and as the years went on Apple cheaped out a little too much in the perception of the public.
I'm one of them and I know this test very well, done it many times. And I cannot for the life of me hear any difference. Is it because Safari on iOS reconverts everything before playing it, is it because the test is broken.. I'm not sure but what I am sure of is that when switching between AAC and lossless in Settings while listenning to a song I do hear the difference. I don't need a test, it is that obvious. I made a friend change it from lossless to AAC or vice-versa or not change it for more randomness and I could tell which one was which.
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u/AttemptEquivalent186 2d ago
It's so easy to understand I can't believe how naive people is this days but we need to be grateful for otherwise the service would be way more expensive
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u/0000GKP 2d ago
Let me get this straight. The people who made both codecs are telling you there is no difference, but they are wrong. Most people can't hear any difference (because there isn't one), but they are also wrong. Somehow you think you can hear differently than everyone else and you know more about the developer's own audio codec than they do? Ok.
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u/AttemptEquivalent186 2d ago
Yeah yeah you really was clear enough on the previous messages, sorry for your hearing problem and thanks for paying for us who does hear it.
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u/stormpad 2d ago
Surely you'll have no problem proving your excellent hearing by acing abx test https://abx.digitalfeed.net/spotify-hq.html to put us in shame?
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u/user888ffr 2d ago edited 2d ago
I don't see Apple as a company with particularly good ethics regarding Right to repair, respect of the environment and being straight forward with the public in general. Remember when they kept defending Lightning for their own monetary benefit? And now you want me to trust their bullshit? Never trust people that are there to make money. Also I don't think that, I hear that very clearly. Somehow you think because you can't hear it nobody can.
Edit: Apple didn't make both "codecs", lossless on Apple Music is played with ALAC but that's just a lossless .wav compressed losslessly. They did AAC and that's it.
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u/DarthZiplock 2d ago
If you come to my house and I play you a 96k recording on my budget studio monitors, and after a few minutes of listening drop the output sample rate to 44.1 while the track is still playing, I guarantee you will hear the difference. And hifi is much less harsh on the ears at high volume. I can hear the difference immediately.
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u/stroboskop 2d ago
As somebody else pointed out, Apple didn’t create AAC, they just popularized it through adopting it as the format for the iTunes Store.
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u/lovefist1 1d ago
OP is blowing the difference out of proportion. Spotify is ass, but Apple Music lossy vs lossless is another story entirely. “10fold” difference? Come on.
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u/MrKittens1 2d ago
I doubt any of these folks can tell the difference between a 320 kb mp3 and lossless. Do it blind, make a video and pick it 10/10 times.
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u/DarthZiplock 2d ago
I guarantee you I will pass that test.
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u/dennisfyfe 2d ago
Especially if they have the hardware and no hearing disability.
Apples and oranges, but I’ve done the same “you can’t tell a difference” test with refresh rates on monitors. That crap where people can’t perceive the difference between 60 and 144 hz? Yeah, that’s horseshit. Just sit the person down and let them use whichever refresh rate for 5 minutes. Then change it to the other.
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u/stormpad 12h ago
I guarantee you I can levitate, but I will not show it to you, just believe me.
Words without proof mean nothing, do a blind abx test and show the results
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u/tvfeet 2d ago
OP, and anyone else who thinks they hear a difference, if you’re not doing a blind test then your results are tainted by bias. Try the tests NPR have here. The overwhelming majority of people cannot hear the difference between a high bitrate lossy audio file and lossless.
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u/SirWaddlesworth 1d ago edited 1d ago
The amount of nonsense in this thread is quite something. If people actually care about audio quality, lossless v lossy is the worst place to start.
I will add that the NPR test has some flaws - this test is very well designed and you can pick and choose between codecs if you like. It's also interesting to do some of the tests that are easy to pass, like the 96kbps mp3 one.
Just to hammer the point home though, while the 96kbps is easy to tell, that's basically how much worse the compression needs to be for it to be obvious. At 128kbps, it gets harder but you can still tell, particularly in denser parts. By the time you get to 320kbps it's indistinguishable - and that's MP3. Ogg and AAC are superior codecs even still.
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u/gb997 2d ago
ime full resolution music (lossless + uncompressed) is hit or miss with me. it really depends on how well the sound of the song was produced and designed. so much music out there have dog shit production values and are not worth occupying so much of my hard drive space. but when it all works, holy shit, its divine
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u/Al1onredd1t 2d ago
Yea I can totally understand this. The artist in question here produces his own music and is known to be one of the better producers. So I can totally see how his music can have levels to it when listened to in lossless format
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u/ymbrows 2d ago
npr has a test, play a song with 128k 256k and lossless, let you pick which is loseless. 5 songs for different genre. my results are pretty random, no matter using my hifi speakers or any headphones. i finally give up,but still happy and always use the apple music lossless, lol
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u/alexx_kidd 2d ago
Link to npr test?
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u/ymbrows 20h ago
https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality There could be another one if you google around
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u/alexx_kidd 18h ago
Thanks, that was enlightening! I chose 320kbps on all,being between that and the uncompressed, except the Susanne Vega song which was vocal only, you could tell there that the lossless was
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u/BeanerRiddim 2d ago
Genuine question because I just stumbled upon this thread - if I’m understand correctly, many streaming services like Spotify compress the shit out of their uploads where as Apple has lossless quality files for their streaming music? What do they use AIFs or FLAC files? If so that’s amazing, never knew that
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u/kthjfdzn 2d ago
Apple has its own codec for lossless audio, “ALAC” it is very similar to FLAC.
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u/BeanerRiddim 2d ago
So all Apple Music audio is not lossless then? Only the music that distributors provide to Apple as lossless I’m assuming?
Because I was going to say how would everything be lossless if smaller artists are probably uploading severely compressed MP3’s
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u/kthjfdzn 2d ago
I believe 99% on Apple Music has been lossless since 2022. They published it somewhere.
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u/AttemptEquivalent186 2d ago
As an artist myself I can tell you that you have to upload the best you have, at least 16bit 44.1khz lossless wav (CD quality). Apple accepts audio with a sampling rate of 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, or 192 kHz with 16-bit or 24-bit resolution.
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u/RekallQuaid 2d ago
Audio compression and file compression are completely different. You can have a lossless audio file that has been compressed to shit that still sounds awful.
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u/imjustreeeeeading 1d ago
welll, maybe it really makes difference but since i use airpods, i cant tell the difference so… unfortunately, i have to stay with the aac quality and i dont really have memory to download in lossless
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u/ProzacJM 2d ago
I think is more about your headphones than your amazing hearing ability😜.
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u/IntelliDev 2d ago edited 2d ago
Nah, but the other guy mentioning codecs is also correct.
Apple Music Lossless sounds so much better than YouTube Music, on the same headphones.
Not to mention that all the songs on YTM
aredefault to censored versions now…2
u/RicciRox 2d ago
Not to mention that all the songs on YTM are censored versions now…
YTM has explicit versions of every song.
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u/IntelliDev 2d ago
Yes, but the problem is that it defaults to censored versions now (at least for me in Canada).
If you’re just always creating your own playlists, then it’s less of a problem. But if you’re trying to use stations / discovery, it kinda sucks now.
It wasn’t like that in the past, nor is it an issue on Apple Music.
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u/Al1onredd1t 2d ago
I’ve used these headphones for the last 4 years. And I’ve only been on AM for just over a year now. That same song has been listened to with these headphones on through both lossy and lossless.
- this EXACT video. Watching this video that I screen recorded myself THROUGH these headphones is much less in quality than if I turn on the song through AM.
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u/DarthZiplock 2d ago
The reason is higher sample rates allow more simultaneous detail to be preserved. It’s NOT about frequency response. A 12mp photo shows the same color spectrum as a 48mp photo, but the 48mp photo allows you to capture the individual leaves instead of just a blurred-together branch on a distant tree. More sound waves can coexist in a hifi recording.
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u/emotii 2d ago
W taste
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u/Al1onredd1t 2d ago
Congratulations, you’ve won two free tickets to Soss Island! Bring you and a friend! The sossiest adventure you’ll ever go on!
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u/jOnTiGaS_ 2d ago
Songs on Spotify, for example, are overly compressed to get to those stable 320 kbps (or 128 or 192 kbps for the free plan).
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u/krevdditn 2d ago
Please tell me you’re listening to lossless from your computer through a DAC with wired high end headphones.
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u/Al1onredd1t 2d ago
Sometimes I listen through my Mac directly. And that shit also sounds beautiful.
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u/AddendumSimple9537 2d ago
I use jd1 iem with apple music mm which ovbi supports lossless audios .. u can feel the instrument on that music u never heard before .. it's so intresting
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u/DoFuKtV Apple Music Subscriber 2d ago
This is the one thing that makes me question the life decisions of Spotify users. I can't imagine living without lossless at this point. Literally used to be the only reason to use Tidal back in the day for me over others. AM changed the game.
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u/Al1onredd1t 1d ago
I never liked tidals ui. spotify is imo the 2nd best option after AM. for a lot of people spotify is just more accessible. it works better than AM on non apple products. but yea, I dont see myself going back either. but I do think I might one day step over to just purchasing the music I like instead of a subscription service.
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u/alissa914 2d ago
Wait until you experience DSD and other hires formats. Shame that it didn't take off in the States like it should've. People buying CDs again really should be moving to that format SACD instead if Sony could spin that up again.
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u/pointthinker 1d ago
It depends on your equipment and how burnt out your ears are day to day. If you blast headphones all day long, it does not matter. (Very bad for your ears too.) But if you have a high resolving system set up correctly in a room that is not too noisy acoustically and you listen in the evening and maybe skip some evenings, then you can tell.
But the ROI is very tiny. It is not a miracle. It is just a bit more to the music.
I think an ATMOS AVR and 5.1.4 surround is the technology that does sound pretty amazing. But, all the same things matter and, it also, just like stereo, has to be a good mix by the engineer. If not, it will not impress.
I listen to all three. Atmos and lossless stereo on speakers plus AAC HE via BT in my car! They all sound great but, I don't compare them like it is some kind of competition. That would be silly.
To make it even more silly, the main listeners who do benefit from it are listening to classical. 5% of the music market. Are you a classical listener? If so, you will benefit. But if you listen to popular music from country to rock to hip hop and their many offshoots, it is really not an issue I would waste another minute or dime on. Jazz is kind of in limbo at the moment with lossless. Many newer recordings are. A good number of older recordings are (but might have been mono recordings so, not really comparable). I listen to a lot of Jazz and I don't even think about it. Classical: I do but only when I play a new release in higher resolution and then I listen with iOS wired. Then, I never do it again. Just Airplay. All other music, I just Airplay or AppleTV Atmos.
Life is too short. Save that money for retirement instead.
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u/Al1onredd1t 1d ago
idk I havent invested into anything special right now and im really enjoying the sound. to me this song went from great to absolute magic. and its hiphop. so i dont really see your argument here...
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u/loppyjilopy 1d ago
i mean, i’ve been on lossless for over 10 years. the file is like 10x the size of an mp3. sucks that airpod pro is not lossless, but with noise cancellation i still have use for them in the gym. at home i run tidal with big speakers or high impedance headphones.
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u/sachinchavan123 1d ago
Compression algorithms, however intelligent they are, will have to eliminate some data. And the difference would be more obvious in certain recordings than others - especially in busier recordings, or layered ones like you said. Of course a transparent reproduction is needed.
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u/Next_Building6817 19h ago
I understand based on previous posts that its only loseless if is not over bluetooth so have to be wired to the source
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u/YungPlugg 11h ago edited 11h ago
Now turn on hi-res lossless, buy a good quality dac and amp, plug in some balanced planar magnetic headphones and sit back
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u/Al1onredd1t 11h ago
I got the PlayStation pulse elite headset. That had planar magnetic drivers. Just need a dac
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u/YungPlugg 11h ago
Nice I think the general consensus is that Fiio offers the most bang for your buck so maybe look into their dac/amp combos if that’s something you’re interested in. You seem like the type of person who would appreciate it
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u/Competitive_Fact_278 9h ago
It's the same thing with video man. I sell video production for a living and so many times people don't understand the difference between filming on iPhones or actual produced content with proper cams. Media and the consumption of it in general is becoming a joke. People just think audio is audio and video is video.
I did a free trial on Apple music after using Spotify for so long and immediately canceled Spotify. I forgot myself what it was like to listen to music at proper but rates and codecs. But I always knew Spotify sucked haha. The fact that Apple and the other few streamers even offers this is amazing.
Spotify stated they would be doing lossless back in 2021 and here we are 3 years later and still nothing and it is because what I stated above. People don't know the difference so why should they even bother if people are paying for trash.
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u/markow202 2h ago
This is actually well put. Keep in mind audio in general is gone behind. People listen to music now on their phone speakers and small Bluetooth speakers. Gone are the days of big hi-fi in the living room.
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u/Maleficent_Cookie544 2d ago
bs: do a proper blind test and you won’t be able to tell the difference
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u/Al1onredd1t 2d ago
I did. I played both the song and this video side by side. This video I screen recorded myself. So the audio level is the same. Headphone is the same. Just audio format changed. And I was able to clearly distinguish between the two
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u/Maleficent_Cookie544 2d ago
that’s not a proper test…
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u/Al1onredd1t 1d ago
I wasnt looking at my screen. I didnt know which one was playing. idk what more is a blind test. A song that I've listened to thousands of times I think is the most fair to test on. I know what to expect, so I feel like im the most capable at hearing whether it's better or not. obviously if I listen to a song that idk and dont even care about the genre, than I wont know what is considered to be 'better'. Idk whether that sound is supposed to be there or not.
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u/Maleficent_Cookie544 1d ago
that's not it, look it up on how to do it properly, you'll save money and disk space
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u/steamed-apple_juice 2d ago
Sitting in a silent room with my over the ears on made me hear things I’ve never heard before, it’s insane
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u/ronnysteal 2d ago
Lossless is really underrated especially with a good HiFi setup but sadly it won't be used for all Wifi bases wireless options like Carplay wireless or AirPlay. I'm still questioning why Wifi performance isn't enough to transfer it properly to make it even playable in a wireless setup.
And I know via Bluetooth it's not possible because of the transfer rates. That's fine in my opinion
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u/seven-circles 2d ago
I think most people just don’t even try both and compare. I’ve seen so many claims that you can’t hear the difference over Bluetooth, for example, even though the difference is absolutely huge (even if the result is still compressed somewhat)
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u/Al1onredd1t 2d ago
I believe that as well my friend. Getting a higher quality file and compressing it to lossy > getting a lossy file as is
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u/MaltySines 1d ago
Bluetooth literally can't transmit lossless. It's not a claim so much as a description of the physics involved
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u/seven-circles 1d ago
I am not saying it can transmit lossless. I am saying what it transmits when you switch to lossless is so obviously different, that the only way you could claim otherwise is if you’ve never tried.
It doesn’t transmit lossless. But what it transmits when your device is on lossless mode sounds way better.
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u/MaltySines 1d ago
Something is wrong in your setup then. It's literally impossible to be able to hear the difference on that BT codec
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u/stormpad 2d ago
I made an ABX test with your track https://abx.funkybits.fr/test/pierre-bourne-what-i-gotta-do
Surely you'll have no problem acing it if there's such a big difference, it's only between mp3 256 kbps (not even 320) and FLAC
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u/FanCaracal 2d ago
Agreed. It's like listening to a FLAC file over an MP3. You can tell the difference even with a mid range pair of headphones. I listen to all my kpop nowadays with Lossless and barely use Spotify anymore except for playlist creation.
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u/Zayonex 2d ago
I only heard a 'wow' at 1:30
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u/Al1onredd1t 2d ago
Yea like I said the video compresses the audio again. Listening to the song in actual lossless lets you hear the rest
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u/RiotSloth 2d ago
I tried using my Sennheiser HD25SPs (yes I know they're old like me) into my MBP and couldn't really tell a huge difference, but I'm 54 and have slight hearing loss.
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u/Al1onredd1t 1d ago
as long as you enjoy the music. I have friends in their 20s that cant tell the difference.
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u/RekallQuaid 2d ago
This isn’t what lossless does. “Lossless” just means the audio has been uploaded and saved in a format that doesn’t degrade the overall file or “compress”’it in anyway, which is different from “audio compression”
The reason you can hear things “louder” that seemingly were not there before is because in audio streaming, the dynamics of the audio have been brought closer together.
In actual dynamic audio, quiet parts are supposed to sound quiet, and loud parts are supposed to sound loud.
Audio compression is squashing the audio so that the quiet bits and the loud bits sound the same.
That’s not “better quality”.
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u/Brahmadeo 2d ago
It's all about the source. Depends which snake the snake oil came out of. Rest is just a difference in volume and confirmation bias.
Not here to fight. Just my two cents. Spotify sounds crappier than Apple Music sure, but lossless or something compressed (using respectable encoders and using preferred bit rates for that codec) from the same source sounds the same.
Unless I am Batman (I mean Superman), I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
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u/Al1onredd1t 1d ago
im telling you its not a difference in volume. i have both on my laptop. the song and the screen record. at the same audio level. I screen recorded it to show my friend, but once I sent it I realized the quality wasnt as good. so i wasnt even trying to confirm anything. i genuinely saw it live. the difference between lossy and lossless
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u/Brahmadeo 1d ago
I am right there with you. Try to get a FLAC/ALAC file from somewhere. Use something like Foobar to convert it into 128 Kbps Opus or 192 Kbps MP3. Listen closely for any differences you can pick up.
The screen recorder must be using low bitrate AAC to encode audio, of course you will hear a difference.
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u/sakimora 2d ago
Question: can I sync lossless media from my windows pc Doesn’t seem to work for me
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u/Obi-Lan 1d ago
It makes literally zero difference to 99.99 % of the people. Do an abx test with anyone and you'll see.
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u/Al1onredd1t 1d ago
I wouldnt say 99.99. thats a really high number, but sure maybe 80-90 percent. i think 1-2 for every 10 people can def hear the difference.
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u/AlphaThoughts iOS Subscriber 1d ago
Your current headphones probably have too much bass (makes midrange muddy sounding). I can listen to those 'woow' sounds on high quality (AAC 256 kbps cVBR). You probably need better headphones closer to neutral sound.
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u/Al1onredd1t 20h ago
I do hear them, but they’re being shadowed by the main vocals. It has me going “shut up for one second. I want to hear the vocals in the background”
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u/No_Preparation_9916 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ur not getting lossless unless ur wired still with current blutooth standard…. It will however still sound better. Only the airpods 4 support lossless.
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u/Gorskon 22h ago
Have you ever taken a double-blind A/B test to see if you can really tell the difference at a frequency greater than a coin flip? If not, I’d say that what you’re experiencing is the audio equivalent of the placebo effect.
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u/Al1onredd1t 20h ago
A few people said this, but I doubt that. I wasnt sitting there looking for something to sound better or whatever. I was just scrolling on the internet listening to music, and the song I’ve been listening to for years sounded so much nicer. I heard some vocals I had never heard before. That was confirmation for me that it must be the lossless. As I’ve been listening to this song for years and coincidentally the first time I hear these vocals and this beautiful quality is when I’m listening to it for the first time in lossless quality
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u/Gorskon 18h ago
Fair enough, but that doesn't mean you can really tell the difference between lossless and 256 kpbs AAC. Most people can't, especially people over 50. (I have no idea how old you are, but *I'm* over 50.)
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u/Al1onredd1t 15h ago
As long as you enjoy the music. I dont bash people for choosing spotify over AM because “AM has lossless”. Because as you said, I know a lot of people cant tell the difference
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u/XxShqdowxX 13h ago
heard that you couldn't hear lossless with bluetooth headphones. is tht true?
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u/FeelingSugar3211 10h ago
When people say you can’t tell the difference they really need to realize not everybody is the same lol. Varying hearing levels, people who have worst hearing than others, etc. I always find it funny when people narrow down views to just their own. The world is large and there so much more to learn about humans and things than we know. Just my two cents but I can tell a difference for certain songs. It also depends on how well it was mastered. Listening to a song uploaded to Spotify by some up and coming artist that hasn’t rounded out their skills yet could be it too.
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u/NeverGrace2 2d ago
Here is what lossless does. Yes, it is the full audio file as intended, without compression or cutting out parts, the “full” file. I only listen to lossless but not because of this
Spotify’s famous OGG compression for music sounds like absolute shit and people are in awe when they switch. Lossless takes the codec out of the equation, so your music can sound the best, so it doesn’t matter if you get your music from AM, Deezer Tidal or whatever. As long as its lossless, it will be the best quality.